Hard drive click... sudden motion sensor?

whenever i carry my macbook, the hard drive makes a clicking sound. Is this the sudden motion sensor?

Yes. Depending on what you mean by "carry", you should probably put it to sleep or turn it off when moving it.

Similar Messages

Drive Upgrade: Sudden Motion Sensor & SMART

Greetings,
I have a couple of technical questions regarding a Hitachi HD upgrade I am planning. I purchased the 5K500.B from Other World Computing (OWC) and had some concerns with the Apple Drive Utility when I went to format it.
I also purchased an external enclosure that I can mount my old drive in after I replace it. When I went to format the new drive (in the external enclosure) with Drive Utility, I noticed some differences between the old drive and the new drive. The original drive is a Hitachi 200 GB 7200 RPM which Apple supplied as an option. I will list my MacBook Pro information after this section. My questions are:
1) SMART status reads "Unsupported" on the new drive and "Verified" on the old drive. OWC said this is because SMART only works on internal drives and SMART will work after I install the new drive. I just want to check the accuracy of this statement.
2) My MacBook Pro has a Sudden Motion Sensor for drop protection. Is that built into the laptop or the hard drive? Will Apple's drop protection work with the new drive?
3) Is the 5K500.B really a direct replacement with all the functionality of the original drive.
My MacBook Pro information:
System Software Overview:
System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.6 (10J567)
Boot Mode: Normal
Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No
Hardware Overview:
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 5 GB
SMC Version (system): 1.28f3
Hardware UUID: 5BCEDD41-1B9B-5311-A21C-3638AEAEE5BB
Sudden Motion Sensor: State: Enabled
Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00:
Capacity: 200.05 GB (200,049,647,616 bytes)
Model: Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
Revision: DC4AC77A
Medium Type: Rotational
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Available: 18.03 GB (18,027,290,624 bytes)
File System: Journaled HFS+

I read in one of your posts that the sudden motion sensor can be easily disabled. Could you please tell me how?
I can be online, or not, and the crazy spinning colored disc starts to spin, then if I pick it up and set it back down usually it stops and the macbook (4,1) continues with it's work. I guess that it is the sudden motion sensor although I could be wrong...Just seems strange that it normally stops when i pick it up, tap it, gently, etc.
Could you please advise? It shows enabled in 'about this mac' but I can't find anyplace to dis-able it.
It's almost impossible to stream video, although that may be from something else.
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.31f1
Serial Number (system): W8833DZ00P1
Hardware UUID: DE950BF6-E26F-5ACB-984B-5BB4E50816B2
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
On front of 'about this mac' it reads Memory 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, which I hadn't noticed before. It sounds like something from my old SONY VAIO!
Much, much appreciated for any help.
Thanks very much.

Hard drive upgrade on 13" MBP sudden motion sensor compatibility

Hello,
I'm planning on upgrading the hard drive in my 13" MBP (aluminium unibody) and I've read a lot of posts regarding the sudden motion sensor conflicts with OS X 10.6.2. I'd like to know if the Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue here (http://www.dabs.com/products/western-digital-500gb-scorpio-blue-5400rpm-sata-300 -8mb-58P6.html) would suffer from the conflict (I'm not sure if "Shock Guard" = sudden motion sensor). I don't know if its a simple yes/no or whether its drive / mac specific.
If it would be a problem does anyone have a suggestion for a guaranteed compatible 500Gb hard drive (5400 rpm is fine)?
Any thoughts are much appreciated, thanks for your help!

Western Digital Lists their drive features as:
* IntelliSeek™ - IntelliSeek technology calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
* SecurePark™ - WD's SecurePark technology parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved shock tolerance.
* ShockGuard™ - WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.
* Free-fall Sensor - As an added layer of protection, if the drive (or the system it's in) is dropped while in use, WD's free-fall sensor detects that the drive is falling and, in less than 200 milliseconds, parks the head off the disks to help prevent damage and data loss.
* WhisperDrive™ - WD's exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms that result in one of the quietest 2.5-inch drives on the market.
The Free Fall Sensor is the equivalent of the Sudden Motion Sensor. Looking at the specs for the drive you linked to... they list the following features:
Shock Guard, WhisperDrive, SecurePark
As they do not list Free Fall Sensor, I'm guessing this model does not have one so it should not conflict with the internal Sudden Motion Sensor in your MacBook.

Second Hard Drive, Sudden Motion Sensor

Back in the fall I put a SSD in my 2007 MacBook Pro. It's working perfectly. I found the "OptiBay" product, which basically replaces your optical drive with an adapter for another hard drive. I haven't received it yet, but when I do I plan on installing it with a traditional hard drive. My question regards the sudden motion sensor (SMS). I disabled it because it's not needed for the SSD, but I was planning on re-enabling it for my secondary that I will be installing. I'm still going to boot off the SSD, though. Is there a way, or terminal code, to assign the SMS to a certain disk? I'm assuming it will just disable the root drive in the event of "sudden motion," but would this affect a secondary drive?
I'd love for there to be an option to change the identifier, from disk0s2 to disk0s3, but I have a feeling it isn't possible or would be infinitely more difficult... thanks.

Most drives are available with the equivalent of an internal SMS. You just have to check the specs. Drive manufacturers often offer two versions of their drives... one with and one without a SMS. If you get a drive with the SMS built in, you can just leave the MacBook's internal one disabled.
Here is an example of one of the most popular drives:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/momentus/momentus5400.6g/
Seagate's SMS technology is referred to as G-Force. Note the product number: 5400.6_g. The "g" denotes the drive has a "G-Force" sensor.

Sudden Motion Sensor and a new hard drive?

I was just wondering if the Sudden Motion Sensor will still work with a non-Apple hard drive.
If so,
I am also looking for a 160GB hard drive replacement for the Macbook. Something fast, reliable, quite, and most important, good quality. And low power consumption, if possible
P.S. I am also looking for 2GB RAM, with the same qualities.
Thanks.
Apple Mac mini (late 2005) Mac OS X (10.4.8) PowerMac10,2: 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, BT/AE...

Nick,
oddly enough there have been reports of the SMS not working properly with some Western Digital drives, which have their own SMS system as well. I happen to have a 120G WD Scorpio, but haven't seen the problem myself yet. I'm sure OWC will replace it without problems if it crops up though-one advantage to dealing with a Mac specific dealer

SSD SMS?? (Solid State Drive Sudden Motion Sensor)

Just a quick question, can anyone tell me if the SSD option has a sudden motion sensor? I realize the benefits to hard drive health wouldn't be needed in a SSD but I find it extremely useful for security (ie: iAlertU).
Thanks!
SAM

Yes it does. This is from my SSD model:
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook Air
Model Identifier: MacBookAir1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 1.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBA11.00BB.B00
SMC Version: 1.23f9
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Sudden Motion Sensor and WD Scorpio drives

I'm researching the 13-inch MacBook pro. I stumbled on this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=683913 which says that the Sudden Motion Sensor in Apple portables have issues with kernel panics when you use Western Digital's Scorpio line of hard drives. I was wondering:
- Is there a way you can disable SMS in System Preferences?
- If I get WD's Scorpio drive without their implementation of SMS ("free-fall sensor"), will Apple's SMS take over without KPs? Or do I have to use a stock drive?
Thanks!

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
Also, the application Cocktail can disable SMS by disabling it and without venturing into the Terminal.
Bryan

Hard drive clicking sound when MBP in motion

Hi all,
I just bought the new 15" 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro with the SD card slot, and I noticed that every time I move the machine vertically (i.e. upwards or downwards), I hear a hard drive clicking sound. Sounds like a single chirp... if anybody knows what I'm talking about. What's wrong with this, or is this natural?
Thanks.

I think I have found our problem. We are not alone on this one. It actually concerns me after reading about this. Here is the link.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935
I found this under a different thread in this forum. Other users are hearing this when they "bump" the right side of the laptop or when they suddenly move the laptop.

Sudden motion sensor, should I (or can I) disable it?

hi there.
I've just upgraded the hard drive in my MacBook to a Hitachi 250 Gb drive (model number HTS542525K9SA00). I'm really impressed with how quiet it is. Compared to the Seagate Momentus 160Gb drive I've just swopped out, there's no vibration & hardly any noise!
I use my MacBook for DJing with, & I just need some information about any anti shock systems that this drive may have.
Now I know that some drives have shock protection built in, & I also know that the MacBook also has it's own shock protection as well. I'm sure I read somewhere that you can have problems if you have two anti shock systems working on your computer (hitachi's system on the drive, & apple's own sudden motion sensor), & that it's best to disable one of them.
Does anyone have any info about this at all?

The only problem I have heard with this is with the Western Digital 250 GB drives. That is why I picked the 320 GB WD. If you don't hear any clicking noise you should be OK. If your still concerned contact Hitachi customer service and ask them if it will be a problem.

Sudden Motion Sensor - Anyone else hearing it?

Recently got a new 15" Macbook Pro with the 320gb 7200 rpm hard drive.
Something that's a bit worrying is that I can hear the sudden motion sensor activating. In my previous MBP, which is about 2 years old, I couldn't hear it activate at all.
Also, I've got the new MBP on a stand to raise it up. However almost every time I knock the desk it's on, the SMS activates. Sometimes it doesn't need much force to activate at all.
I'm wondering if this is likely to decrease the life of the hard drive as it's parking the head unnecessarily so often?
Thanks
Chris

My MacBook Pro's Hitachi 320GB 7200 rpm drive also clicks when it parks. I don't worry about it. Hitachi's web site claims a MTBF of 600,000 load/unload cycles (or over 160 load/unload cycles per day, every day, for 10 years).
The noise itself doesn't bug me at all - my old G4 powerbook used to cycle the optical drive every time it woke up, but it never failed (4.5 years of near daily use). So a servo or some do-hicky clicks when it does what it's supposed to do?
If it fails, I'll have AppleCare replace the drive for me, and I'll simply restore from my TimeMachine backup or from one of my SuperDuper clones. I'd rather have the motion sensor parking the drives when the machine moves then NOT doing so and having a HD head crash when I carry the machine from one room to another.

Sudden motion sensor not working with replacement harddisk?

I replaced the original harddisk of my Macbook pro (500 GB, 7.200 rpm, model no. HTS725050A9A362) with the retail version of the same harddisk (model no. HTS725050A9A364).
Now I'm missing the typical "click" when the sudden motion sensor parks the heads and I'm afraid it's not working - although "pmset -g" shows "sms 1".
Is there anything else I can check, e.g. enable head parking at harddisk-firmware level?
Thanks
Juls

For future reference, here are a couple of kb articles on the sudden motion sensor:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
As has been said, Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor is not actually built into the hard drive. In fact, some hard drives with their own version of a sudden motion sensor like Seagate's G-Force Protection actually will set up a conflict with Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor.
I installed the same WD in my Mac as you did, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have been enjoying mine.

10.6.8 update and sudden motion sensor

I have MBP 8,1, 2011 base model i5. Since i updated to 10.6.8 it seems like sudden motion sensor got a lot more sensitive. Never seen it work before, now if i lift the mbp from desk even i can hear the hdd clicking home. I have disabled the sensor and it stops even i move the computer around very fast. So it is not just the drive doing, sensor is triggering that.
I was wondering if anyone knows if sensivity of this sensor changed on last mac os update? or if anyone else noticed it too?
Thx
Ozzy

Hi Ozzy,
I have not noticed any difference on my MBP.
You can try an SMC Reset, which can resolve SMS issues: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

HT1935 In sudden motion sensor terminal it will not let put in my password...can any one help me?

While recording music was prompt...
Disk is too slow or System Overload.
(-10008)
The Sudden Motion Sensor may have parked the hard drive head, or the disk performance is not sufficient to read or write all audio tracks, or the system was not able to process all data in time
hard drive to slow...
followed direction but it would not let me enter password. No keys will work on keypad when trying

It's normal to see no characters on screen when entering the password for sudo - they're still recognised.
As Apple say at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4103
When typing the user's password after the "Password:" prompt appears, you will not see anything appear in the Terminal window. Just type in the password and press Return. If the password is entered incorrectly, you will see the message "Sorry, try again" and be given another chance to enter the password correctly.

Sudden Motion Sensor not working after upgrade to WD5000BEKT HDD

Hi everyone, I just upgraded the hard drive on my Macbook Pro (2010) and I am very pleased with the performance of this 7200rpm drive, I have seen reads around 105MB/s and a pretty good boot time at 23s. But I used to be able to hear the hard drive stop when I moved the computer around before due to the Sudden Motion Sensor technology and since I have the new hard drive in it doesn't seem to work anymore. I have tried switching SMS off and on and it didn't change anything, also the drive is a Western Digital Scorpio Black without Free Fall sensor (I took that version on purpose so it wouldn't conflict with the SMS). Do you have any ideas on how to make it work again? Because I really like this feature on my Mac (I have dropped a laptop before so just in case it happens again). Thanks a lot for your help.
Scott

For future reference, here are a couple of kb articles on the sudden motion sensor:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
As has been said, Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor is not actually built into the hard drive. In fact, some hard drives with their own version of a sudden motion sensor like Seagate's G-Force Protection actually will set up a conflict with Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor.
I installed the same WD in my Mac as you did, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have been enjoying mine.

Where is Sudden Motion Sensor data stored?

Background:
I replaced my superdrive with an optibay + ssd (OS is stored here) and I left the stock HD (home folder) in it's place.
Problem:
I guess I triggered the SMS the other day and now I can't access my HD (basically just hangs / takes forever to load anything) unless I disable SMS. Where would I clear the data / tell it that my HD is safe to use again. Restarted pram and reinstalled OS, but it didn't help.

Thanks for the responses. Yes, as JoeyR stated, I replaced my superdrive with an SSD and the hard drive is in it's original place so I wanted to re-enable the sudden motion sensor. Thank you for clarifying how the SMS works. I wasn't sure if there was a state that was saved somewhere.
Well the original issue was that my OS would boot (SSD), but I couldn't get into my login (HD). I have a temporary user on the SSD so I was able to use that to troubleshoot. I swapped my HD with another one and it worked (STOCK HD). Then I tried putting the HD into an external closure and that worked as well. I had a feeling it was the connector, but I did not have spare parts to test this theory. I would swap the HDs back and forth and sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. It was a hit or miss situation. It worked when I disabled the SMS, but when I enabled / disabled it again it didn't work. Ran diagnostics on the HDs, both drives seem fine and in perfect condition. Tried to format the hard drivers and do various combinations of swapping drives and in the end the problem still persisted so it had to be a connector issue. I brought it into repair and they replaced the SATA cable for me and all is good now.
Thanks for the help.

Hard drive click... sudden motion sensor?

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